It's like a science fiction movie. Really. REALLY. I noticed it right off, the moment the automatic doors swooshed open and we entered the hotel. Everyone stopped, turned, and looked at us. Distaste, shock, disapproval, were only some of the feelings that registered on all the perfect faces. Then, frozen moment thaws and we push on to the desk.
Coming down the stairs were a group of young men, maybe 17 or 18, all painfully thin, all dressed perfectly, all smiling perfect smiles as they talk. One of them has his hands, with long arty fingers resting on the bannister as he decends. Suddenly a door opens and girls of a similar age burst into the lobby, eyes darting around noticing and hopeing to be noticed. We waited in line while watching all this amazing activity. I glanced at Joe, was I imagining this? I could tell by his face that I was not.
At the check in, after the keys were handed to me I asked, 'So what's going on here today?' I was told that it was a 'Model Congress' where wannabe models come to learn about modelling. Oh. Nice. I guess.
A young man came shirtless from the pool, he was daintily nibbling on a potato chip. A potato chip. You read that right, ONE, potato chip. And I swear I could track each bite as it made the journey from food to poo. It was astonishing. I felt like a subspecies of being. My size, my disability, my age, everything about me, every word you would use to describe me physically set me apart, made me different. It was wild. I felt institutionalized, in public.
I got on the elevator with a older business woman who was as far from fat as I am from thin. She looked at us and said, "Thank God, other real people."
I said, "Oh, those kids are real alright. They don't know it yet, but they are."
She said, "And they won't be really beautiful until they realize that."
We all nodded with a sense of superiority laced with a strong hint of envy.
Model Congress. Well, that would be my idea of hell. Great comment she made about other real people. I hate large gatherings of young people (mostly because I measure myself against them) and a convention of models would be....challenging for me to say the least.
ReplyDeleteMakes me want to watch "Zoolander".
ReplyDeleteLol, I loved Zoolander.
ReplyDeleteIMO, those young people should be working on getting an education, preparing for a career and most importantly, giving back to the world by being a blessing to others.
A "Model Congress?" Please. What message have these young people already been given?
Gee, when I did model congress, it was actually legislative and one had to be nominated on academics. It was fun and educational. Feeling competitive based on appearance, uh uh, it creates insecurities. I hope they do learn where their inner beauty lies.
ReplyDeleteDave, I read your blog almost every day and love your passion and knowledge. But jeez, do you always have to jump to conclusions about what other people think and what their lives are about? I know you would hate it if someone made snap judgements about you and created such a one-dimensional image of your life. You can't really know that the young folks were looking at you with distaste, shock, disapproval. Maybe scowling is in and you just saw the same expression that the whole world gets? Who knows, but I don't think you can assume what this group, as a whole, thought of you. Maybe they were even scowling at something behind you!! And I don't think it's fair to make any assumptions about the value or worth of a "model congress" without knowing the people as individuals. We all hate sweeping generalizations, right? Like kids with Downs are such HAPPY children? Just a thought...
ReplyDeletePerhaps it was just the look of famish on their faces ;o)
ReplyDeleteHm. Interesting comments.
ReplyDeleteK has a point about generalisations, sure.
But I've gotta agree with Anonymous, too - I for one am always crabby when I'm hungry. Maybe if they had been on the binge part and not the purge part, they would have been in a better mood.
Whoops - stereotype alert! My bad!